Peppermint Grove

A financial services startup business that offers loans for private school fees is targeting parents in WA, but financial counsellors warn it may not be the best option for families struggling to pay on time.

Labor's decision to preselect former minister Melissa Parke to contest Julie Bishop's seat of Curtin in the upcoming federal election will force the Liberals to divert precious resources to defend the traditionally safe electorate, a political analyst says.

Perth's most famous block of land — on which the mansion dubbed Taj on Swan once sat in the swanky suburb of Peppermint Gove — is passed in at auction with bids falling short of rumoured $30 million reserve price.

An experiment involving "missing birthday cards" finds residents in wealthier socioeconomic Perth suburbs such as Cottesloe are more likely to help others than those in poorer neighbourhoods like Medina.

Former Perth couple Pankaj and Radhika Oswal and the ANZ bank may be close to settling their mammoth legal battle, just weeks out from the demolition of the Oswal's unfinished Taj Mahal on the Swan mansion.

Western Australia's tiniest local government, the remote Sandstone Shire, is in better financial health than city councils in ritzy suburbs like Peppermint Grove and Mosman Park, according to a new State Government website.